What's In a Name?

I was just reading this morning in Genesis 5 the account of Adam’s family line, a portion of scripture that I usually gloss over. But this time it was different. I read it line by line, name by name. I took a moment to reflect on each name.

In biblical times the selection of a child’s name was a serious decision. You didn’t just choose whatever sounded good. Today we hear of celebrities coming up with some crazy names. In fact, I found the “top 10” list of the craziest names in Hollywood.

Here they are:

• Bronx Mowgli Wentz
• Pilot Inspektor
• Kal-El Cage
• Moon Unit Zappa
• Jermajesty Jackson
• Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette
• Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale
• Rocket Rodriguez
• Brooklyn Beckham (actually, this isn’t so crazy to me)
• Apple Martin

How would you like to go around with one of these names?

The thing about a name is that it sets you apart. You are a unique individual who has value. I think that’s the most important thing we can learn about a name.

While it is easy to gloss over the family lines we find throughout the Bible, we have to remember that this was a person whose life had value to it. They weren’t just a blip on the screen of life.

Sometimes we get offended when someone doesn’t remember our name. It can feel like a personal affront, as if we don’t really matter. It can also feel good when you are at the grocery store or the bank and the person behind the counter actually acknowledges your name.

This whole thing with a name is something I have been thinking about for a couple of weeks now. Over the course of the past two months, God has been prompting me to help a homeless man that frequently sits outside the Pick n Save I shop at. Whenever I see him, I make sure to come out with a bottle of water.

But on one occasion the Lord was speaking to my heart, “He has a name.” It was easy to dismiss that…well of course he has a name. But what God was trying to say to me is that he has a name and I need to ask what it is. I need to see him as someone valuable and I can’t really do that until I know his name.

A good three weeks passed in between the time I heard God speaking to me about this and when I finally saw him again. I was walking up to the front doors of Pick n Save with my daughter and there he was on his bench.

I sat down next to him and said, “Hi.” I gave him a monetary gift that God had put upon my heart to give and then I asked him what his name was. Never have I seen that man smile. Even when I have handed him the bottled water, not even a crack. But he smiled and said, “Dan.” I shook his hand and told him my name and then I pointed to my daughter and told him her name. He reached out to shake her hand.

The conversation didn’t go much further. I said my, “God loves you” thing and we moved on.

Names are valuable because the person behind it is valuable. Whose name do you need to learn today?

(Photo by Kevin Walsh in Flickr)

Make the Most of Every Opportunity

Ephesians 5:16…making the most of every opportunity…

Every single day is a new opportunity. Each moment in each day offers us the chance to…

do right or do wrong

make a difference or waste time

help or hurt

impact a life or ruin a relationship

give or take

build up or tear down

love or hate

be right or choose peace.

Funny how there are so many choices before us but yet…so few moments in life. May we each make the most of every opportunity we are given.

Replacing Your Sin

Ephesians 4:28 (The Message): Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Even if stealing has not been something you struggled with, there is a lot we can learn from this verse. It is the idea of replacement…replacing what you once did with something new.

Sometimes it’s not enough to stop what you once did before you became a believer. Replacing a bad habit or a sin with something else can be beneficial. It takes what you once did, who you once were and turns it around into something good.

The concept of this is something I saw played out in a book I just finished reading called “The Cause Within You: Finding the One Great Thing You Were Created to Do in This World” by Matthew Barnett. Former prostitutes teaching Bible studies. Former drug addicts providing meals to the homeless. All are giving back. They didn’t just stop their sin. They replaced it with something else.

But it goes even a little deeper than this. Reread the verse above and you will see four important steps. The first step is simply to stop what you once did. “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer…”

The second step is to do something else. “…but must work…” So now instead of stealing, you are working.

The third step is to replace your sin. “…doing something useful with their own hands...” The hands that used to steal are now going to find something useful to do instead.

The fourth step is to share your replacement with others. “…that they may have something to share with those in need.”

You see, living a life that is pleasing to God is not just about stopping those bad behaviors or habits. It is really about positively impacting the lives of others. No matter what your past is, you have something to give back.

Stop your sin, replace it with something good and then use it to impact the life of those around you.


Photo by Studio Cl Art on Photl.com

Your Life Is Not Your Own

Yesterday my husband and I met a man from church, who will be heading up a missions trip to Haiti in just a couple of weeks, at our bank. We had to have a couple of forms notarized. One was an authorization form for our minor child to leave the country on this trip and the other was to sign over temporary guardianship to the team leader.

It felt strange to sign over temporary guardianship of my child. What it says is that for this particular period of time, I am relinquishing my rights over my child to someone else. The responsibility of his life for those six days will rest with someone else.

Mothers have a very strong attachment to their children. There is almost a sense of ownership. But the reality is that no matter who has “guardianship” over my child, he does not belong to me. He belongs to God.

As I was reflecting on these things, God reminded me of something else…my life is not my own.

…You are not your own; you were bought at a price… (I Corinthians 6:19b-20a)

How many times at church do I sing songs of surrender? “Lord, I surrender all…I surrender all…all to you my precious Savior, I surrender all.” Yet the truth is I am still holding onto things.

True surrender is a recognition that we are not our own. There was a price paid for our salvation, our new life in Christ. It was a heavy, blood-bought price. How could I expect such a price to be paid for me, yet still attempt to direct my own life?

I came to understand that for me personally, what God was trying to say is that there are some things I am still holding onto…as if I “own” them. At the top of that list are my children.

But for all of us, we have some area in our life (maybe more) that we grasp onto, too afraid to let go. We let fear and doubt prevent us from truly surrendering.

What if things don’t go the way we expected? What if something bad happens? What if it backfires? What if it doesn’t work out? We go into the idea of surrender with only “What if” thoughts. That isn’t true surrender.

The past couple of weeks this has been a real battle for me, as I saw my daughter off to her first year of high school…as the decision was made in our home about allowing our son to take this missions trip to Haiti.

I feel like my children are just growing up too fast and I want to press the pause button. But the reality is that it’s because I don’t want to relinquish them. Yet that is exactly what God is asking of us. He wants us to release EVERYTHING in our life because our life is not our own.

He paid a price for your life and soul that can never be measured. We really can’t even wrap our minds around the reality of this. It’s too divine…it’s too unbelievable.

So with that, I leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, “Unthinkable”:

That God would give His Son for me
I find it hard to believe
That a gift so great could ever be repaid
But the blood that’s flowing from His veins
Has washed away my guilty stains
Death was lost and life was gained for me

It’s unthinkable
But I still believe
It’s unthinkable
But I still believe

I’ve found forgiveness for a life of sin
You bring me healing in my brokenness
You give me purpose for a life unlived
It’s all in your blood, it’s all in your blood

Photo by mmagallan in stock.xchng

Putting Some Muscle and Sinew in Your Life

After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn’t be easy: “Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.” (Acts 14:21-22, the Message)

Like the disciples learned, life isn’t always easy. Sometimes we mistakenly believe that if we are following the Lord, we will never face troubles. But as it says, anyone who decides to join the kingdom of God will go through plenty of hard times.

So what is the key to making it through? This passage talks about sticking with what is believed and not quitting. How do we do this? In the middle of this passage is something interesting…”putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples.”

Sinew means tendon. And tendons are tough bands of fibrous connective tissues that connect our muscles to our bones. Tendons (or sinews) and muscles work together.

Well here is the thing I learned about tendons; they are able to withstand tension. So when we have muscle and sinew in our lives, we can withstand the tension that life brings.

But here is the thing about tendons, they can also break. It takes force for this to happen. And when the tendon does break (or tear), the process of healing is very long and very painful.

Sometimes tendons, like the Achilles tendon, can even become prone to rupture or injury because of a lack of use. So if we are going to have muscle and sinew in our lives, then we need to use it.

To put muscle and sinew in our lives, we need to do some pretty basic things. We need to be in the Word on a daily basis. Because of technology there is really no excuse to not be immersed in the Word every single day. If you can’t sit down and read your Bible, then you can listen to it. You can pull it up on your smart phone. You can download it on your computer.

We also need to be seeking God for direction every day of our lives. This means spending time in prayer. This can be done in the comfort of your home, while walking, driving…there is no right time or place. He wants to hear from you.

But even this isn’t enough. We also need to be united with other believers. We need to be in church each week, taking advantage of every opportunity to gather with other believers. In my church we have life groups, Bible studies, Sunday school, and the list goes on. Spending time with other believers builds you up. It is a way to encourage and inspire one another. It is a way to hold one another accountable.

Need some muscle and sinew in your life? Read the Word. Pray. Fellowship with other believers. Then you will be ready to withstand the tensions of life.

Photo by perpetualplum in Flickr

He Works from the Inside Out

Matthew 23:26 (NLT) "You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too."

What would happen if you decided to save time and money on dish soap by only washing the outside of your cups and dishes? You would likely get sick, leaving behind germs that are never washed away. The washing of the inside is actually the most important.

This is true of us as well. So often we focus on changing the outward behavior, failing to see that it’s what is within that motivates our behavior. If we continue to neglect the inner man, the outer man will never experience lasting change.

This is why we fail to curb our anger, stop our overeating, kick the smoking habit or whatever else it is that we want to change. Those are just outward behaviors that are influenced by our inner man. There is something much deeper within that causes someone to lose their temper, eat more than they should or light up that cigarette.

In other words, it is the inner man that needs to be washed. But we don’t have the ability to do that…this is the work of the Holy Spirit, cleansing us from the inside out.

This should cause us to breathe a sigh of relief, yet motivate us to reflect. We can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it’s not in our hands to make those inner changes. But we should reflect on our relationship with the Lord and how much (or how little) we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

The working of the Holy Spirit is something that happens over a period of time. It comes from spending time in the Word, reading and studying it. It comes from seeking God through prayer. It also comes from taking advantage of other opportunities where we gather with other believers such as attending church, Bible studies, prayer groups, Sunday school, life groups, and the like.

But it doesn’t end there. Simply being a student of the Word or gathering with other believers isn’t enough. We have to live it. We have to be obedient. This many times requires stepping out of the boat and leaving our comfort zones. It definitely requires a complete surrendering of your life.

If you have been focusing on making outward changes, perhaps you need to change direction. Allow the Holy Spirit to begin to wash the inner man and then the outside will become clean, too.

Your Mission in Life

We all have a mission in this life and sometimes it isn’t an easy one. Think of the prophet Ezekiel. He was called to do some pretty hard things. This was not going to be a glamorous job of proclaiming God’s Word to people. He would be met with rebellion.

In fact, God warns Ezekiel that He is sending him to a people (Israel) who were hardened in their sin. They would come back with mean words and hard looks. It didn’t matter whether or not they listened to Ezekiel; he still had to speak to them.

In fact, God would even go on to say that he shouldn’t expect them to listen. Yet he was to go in and not be intimidated or afraid of them.

Or think about Hosea, who was called to marry a promiscuous woman. She would be an adulterous wife that would leave him. But he would have to take her back.

Not such glamorous lives that Ezekiel and Hosea was called to live, huh?

What if God told you ahead of time what you can expect in your life? What if He told you that you would have a bad marriage, rebellious children, money troubles, or sickness? Would you sign up for that mission?

There are many things that have transpired in my life that I would have preferred to be different, had I the choice. But life doesn’t work that way. The question becomes…what will we do with what we have been dealt?

Now I take you to another scene…the Garden of Gethsemane. Picture the anguish and sorrow that Jesus went through, as He prepared for what was ahead. He knew full well what was coming and that it was going to be incredibly painful, not just literally but in the sense that He would have to bear the sins of the world. Imagine the weight…

I know how guilt feels when I have done something wrong. It can eat away at you. But imagine now having to take on the sins of every single person on earth.

We always think about the physical suffering of Christ, as horrendous and sickening as it was. But we have to remember that there was a spiritual suffering that occurred as well. So when Jesus was praying in the Garden, do you not think He was ready to pass on this mission?

Jesus asked for the cup to be taken…He didn’t exactly want to suffer. Who desires to suffer? But He followed it up with “Not my will be done but Your will.” He recognized that while it would have been easy to back out of the deal, He had a mission to complete.

Ezekiel had a mission to complete. Hosea had a mission to complete. I have a mission to complete and you have a mission to complete. It may not be glamorous and it may be hard but we need to respond as Jesus did.

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